We are asking Aziza Brahim to respect the Palestinian call for a cultural boycott of Israel. Initiated in 2005, Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign (BDS) is a call endorsed by the great majority of Palestinian civil society to pressure Israel into ceasing its systematic oppression of Palestinians and abide by their legal right to self-determination and independence. After 67 years of denying such rights, with thousands of Palestinians massacred and millions remaining refugees, Israel has been accused of committing genocide and crimes against humanity. Like the Indigenous Saharawi people, Palestinians also have been awaiting justice, freedom and the realization of their rights since 1948.

Viewing the list of musicians and singers attending the 2015 fourth edition of the “Jerusalem Sacred Music Festival”, it was brought to our attention that the singer Aziza Brahim from occupied Western Sahara is invited to perform a music concert scheduled on September 2nd, 2015, and held at the Tower of David in Occupied East Jerusalem. This festival is organized by Jerusalem Season of Culture which was initiated by the Schusterman Foundation –Israel, a branch of the Schusterman Foundation whose headquarters is based in the USA. Its sponsoring of this annual festival, according to the pamphlet, is in cooperation with the Jerusalem Municipality, the Jerusalem Foundation, and a dedicated group of founding funders.

It is important to note that the Schusterman Foundation, a prominent donor in the Jewish nonprofit world, is known to be a major supporter of pro-Israeli causes and a fervent back up to pro-occupation policies of the AIPAC lobbyists. An organization as such is willing to overlook Israel’s oppression of Palestinians in exchange of funding. Thus, its sponsoring and organization of this festival is an exposed attempt to cover up its tacit support to Israel human rights abuses against the Palestinians and crimes against Palestinian children.

Seizing the growing popularity of Aziza Brahim, this main funding foundation of this festival is, accordingly, trying the exploit her name for political goals; it is to legitimize the Israeli brutal occupation of the Palestinian land and embellish the hideous face of the state of Israel. Similarly, the festival attempted to exploit Malian singer Salif Keita, who pulled out of the 2013 edition.

Aziza Brahim can be informed on this ploy and why she should cancel and refuse to breach the Palestinian boycott picket line

The status of Western Sahara is still locked in a stalemate pending the resolution of the the United Nations which oversees the file management of the negotiations between the Polisario and Morocco to determine the future of the Western Sahara.The overall situation of the people of Western Sahara is as following:

– Sahrawi Refugees Camps: Thousands of Sahrawis live in harsh climatic conditions, away from home since 39 years, under severe shortage of international aid, and difficult economic conditions imposed by the asylum realities.75 % of Western Sahara land is occupied by Morocco, while the Polisario front that represents the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic is in control of the eastern remaining part denoted as liberated zones.

The situation of the region occupied by Morocco: the systematic human rights violations are still ongoing, where the prohibition of the right of peaceful protest, the right of association, the right to express opinion are still forcefully banned and subject to heinous crack down, in addition to out-of-law practices of Moroccan authorities monitoring and spying on all means of communication without any judicial permit.

The Human Rights status: still the Moroccan authorities continue to prevent any kind of manifestation of expression, and continue its series of political arrests and fabrication of charges for the activists, beside the restriction and control of movement and the right of free expression or the exercise of any activities that do not serve the Moroccan state in the occupied Western Sahara. .The militarization of the Saharawi cities continues where the Moroccan state still spreads terror in Western Sahara causing a strangling grip on the Saharawis in their own occupied land.

The political situation: the Moroccan state continues to impose the politis of “fait accompli” by ignoring UN resolutions and recommendations of the Security Council. The Moroccan state has been waging a campaign of diplomatic and media propaganda against the United Nations and especially against the Secretary-General and his representative Christopher Ross in an unprecedented way because of the recommendations of the Human Rights and natural resources monitoring. This goes along with the fact that there are hints that the Western Sahara conflict might be transferred to the seventh UN chapter which allows an imposable resolution on the parties in conflict.

Economic and social situation: The Moroccan state still prevents the local Sahrawis from benefiting from their own natural resources by craeting twisted obstacles in an attempt to prevent the Saharawis from working while encouraging Moroccan settlers to flourish and prosper.The Moroccan state has been adopting a strategy of impoverishment for over 40 years described as follows:

–Security Control: to minimize any political activity that does not serve the monarchial state ́s agenda and interests or its presence in Western Sahara, the security forces tend to arbitrarily arrest, assassinate, torture or fabricate charges or expulsion from the Western Sahara.

–Education: In spite of the vastness of the Western Sahara, there are no universities nor any high discipline though there are many small towns in Morocco that have universities in all disciplines. Besides, Western Sahara does not have any higher education institutes or any other related except for primary and secondary education. Paradoxically, Morocco, that has been propagating the huge projects made in the occupied territory, has remained keen on backwarding the Saharawi people by stripping them from the right to a higher education and up to now there is no university cell in whatever speciality. Morocco has built some walls and streets but cunningly has done everything to keep the population uneducated. Thus, rendering the right to education a national threat to its security.

–Economy: The Moroccan state considers every Saharawi educated citizen or economically active as a source of security problem and a political threat, because the awareness and the activeness of any Saharawi citizen is a threatening factor within the general concept when it comes to the management of Western Sahara . Therefore, the Moroccan state continues reducing benefit of the population of Western Sahara from its calculations while it encourages the Moroccan settlers to work and invest and live in Western Sahara to change the demographic growth of the Western Sahara. Indeed, this strategy has succeeded to a certain extent, but the overall environement has been seriously damaged (e.i: water resources..)due to its strategy to maintain its occupation at all costs.

– The Civil Society: In addition to all this, the Moroccan state rejects the attempts to create a civil society mature and conscious by preventing the establishment of associations or organizations or any other type of human gathering regardless of the activity the Saharawi wish to do. The Moroccan government allows only associations that are affiliated with its security and intelligent services. Besides, Morocco encourages and sometimes inflames very old tribal conflicts by bringing them on the surface by through its pursued colonial administration politics. Morocco’s strategy in occupied Western Sahara is divide to rule

Mohamed elbaikam : Civil society activist in Western Sahara, member of an international collaboration in the Observatory for the Protection of wealth in Western Sahara , Coordinator of the associations active in the fishingindustry and agriculture and the environment. Dakhla

Tens of foreign journalists and human rights activists who visited the occupied terrirories of Western Sahara have been forcefully deported, and counting only from the last UN resolution issued at the end of last April, the number of deportees have so far exceeded 30. this ferocious compaign of forced deportations comes at a time when Morocco vowed before the international community to respect human rights to avoid a possible remittance of the Minurso, the UN peaseful mission to occupied Western Sahara, to monitor human rights. Yet, Morocco fails its committement and is pursuing its vehement suppression quelling on anyone attemting to break up the media blackout.

During the last 48 hours, the Moroccan authorities expelled a Canadian lawyer from UNICEF. She was ill-treated by members of the Moroccan intelligence who forced her to return to the plane she had aboard towards the Moroccan city of Casablanca.

The Moroccan authorities had also arrested and forcefully deported the president of the French Association of Solidarity with the Peoples of Africa at the occupied city of El Aaiun airport and prevented her from visiting the region, in addition to the expulsion of 6 Basque journalists during this week

Equally disastrous, the Moroccan suppression on the local occupied population have reached monumental proportions with all the mass incarcerations, forced disappearance and even the death of some Saharawis reported in the last few weeks.